THE 7-DAY CHALLENGE

A lot of people need a kick on a part of the body occupied by the gluteus maximus muscle in order for them to do something good.
People like these (and include me in this august majority) can’t change anything in life, including the way they feel and look. Unless severely provoked. In such circumstances, ordinary people do extraordinary things.
(pic: http://1stepcloser2im.blogspot.com/2008/05/cda-bike-course-computrainer.html)

This post is for those of you who need to shed fat. I am throwing this challenge to all of you:Starting this Monday (or any day of the week), can you go for one week (seven days, or one hundred and sixty-eight hours) without eating one milligram of bad food?
Specifically, do you have it in you to do ALL of the following, for one full week, no excuses?
1. Eat NO artificial sugars, sweeteners, fruit juices, honey, agave nectar, chocolate (and you know what else could come in this group), etc.
2. Drink NO alcohol, whether beer and wine, or rum, whisky, etc.
3. Eat NO grains, including rice, wheat, corn, etc., including hidden forms, for example, batter-fried chicken (the batter contains grain).
4. Eat NO processed foods at all. This includes breads, chips, biscuits, cake, savories, ice cream, pizza, etc.
5. Not eat out at all.
6. Work out or do an activity for 45 minutes every day. You could start bodyweight exercises at home, and you could climb stairs several times fast, or walk outside, or play tennis, to complete this criterion. If you are already doing exercise, increase the intensity by 10 percent and time by 10 minutes. For weight trainers, this could mean increasing your loads or your total reps or both. If you are the type who skips core workouts because you lifted heavy, then be particular not to cheat this week. If you are too busy, remember you are saying no to yourself. Take 30, then.
7. Eat (all) vegetables, except potatoes.
8. Eat (all) fruits, but no fruit juices. Do not exceed three portions a day.
9. Eat (preferably lean) meats and eggs ad libitum.
10. Fast for 18 hours on any one occasion. If you can do two, even better. The hours need to be consecutive, and may include overnight sleep time.
“But I am already doing all this, dude!” are you saying? Then this challenge is not for you. Simple. This is for the vast majority who do not manage to start a healthy lifestyle because of the lack of a stimulus. Hopefully, this challenge will spur you on, and you will try this out.
Why, one may ask? Simple. If you fulfill this challenge, it is likely that you will run up a calorific deficit of around 1000 to 1500 calories every day, leading to a net loss of two to four pounds of fat. One week.
This will show you that, by next Monday, you would have changed your health and body composition for the better. A significant first milestone.
Are you man or woman enough to do it? Can you submit your name in the comment box, and report back to all of us? I will set an example. I will do more than any of you and try to lose the most fat, by jacking up the intensity of my workouts. And I will be honest if I fail. If you can, weigh up, but this is not important. I guarantee you that sincere effort in this will make you notice the change in some way.
If you are a blogger, take up the challenge and post this in your blog. Take it up as a tag that will change the lives of your readers, rather than some totally frivolous tags we all have been part of. I won’t name you individually, as I want no feeling of obligation on your part, but know I am talking to YOU. No one else.
You can use the ten criteria, and I would appreciate a link to this blog, but that is not important. Giving me money is. Alas, all this is free, and such is life!

To some of my favorite fitness bloggers, I invite you to involve your readers to this challenge: DR, Vic, Rusty, Scott Bird, and Son of Grok. If you wish, you could alter the specifics of the challenge for your readers.
Come on, let us show ourselves that we can do it. Go! See you next week, and drop in your responses!Warning:If you are suffering from diseases like hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, etc. you may be able to benefit from such lifestyle adjustments as necessitated by this challenge, but please be careful and, if necessary, ask me or your doctor about it. All risks are yours!

Priyank:
What crap! This is preventive, and don’t sucker out of this with words, okay!? :-)
Rads:
Yes, but this one week be very, very strict. And take others with you. You can eat quinoa, and dairy products, including cheese (or the Indian version of paneer). You could also eat soy, though I don’t eat it much any more because of its phytoestrogens that may attenuate muscle gains. And try eggs!

Perplexed:
Welcome here! Please don’t add uncertainties at the outset. Just do it. It’s only for seven days, alright? So don’t cheat!
Nandini:
Welcome to this blog, and I am happy you are starting this! Please feel free to post in this blog about every small or big problem or any question you may have in regard to this.
Rads:
(what I posted in your blog):
So am I.
First things first, how did you get my picture: don’t tell me, the internet?
Second, if you dig salads, have a big one that will sate you for hours at a time, while giving your body unpronounceable things to celebrate about. In your salad, add chunks of paneer or some cheese, three boiled eggs (WHOLE ones), a few nuts like walnut or flaxseeds, and a tablespoon or two of olive oil, and some Italian seasoning…. MAGIC! Remember, all you are giving up are major, artificial sources of carbs. You can do all the proteins and a lot of the fats you normally wouldn’t. And fat makes food tasty, and keeps your cravings away.
Another simple recipe: slice some paneer, cut two peppers (red and yellow), add any other veggies you like, and throw them in a large spoon of olive oil or butter. Salt and pepper, or Italian seasoning, and a great meal is done in 5 minutes, I kid you not!
If you eat clean, you will not feel sick or unwell. I feel superman-like on my fast days. I started on it from 2 PM yesterday, and will break it for lunch today. Only lemon-water and liquor tea (green tea is even better). Remember, NO sugar!
And best of luck!

ROFL Indian:
Welcome to this blog, and let’s just finish this week first, wokay? What have you done?
My first day (Monday) is going great. I just broke my fast from yesterday’s lunch (24 hours) with a huge meal of cottage cheese with grapes, a banana, pistachios and almonds, along with a small cup of cooked spinach and cooked unripe jackfruits. The total value of this meal is: 591 calories, 31 grams of proteins and 81 grams of carbs. Dinner will be stir-fried chicken with chili and basil (Thai style), and so I will have no more carbs today. Will probably end up with around 1500 calories today, a deficit of around 1500 calories for me (my workout makes my daily energy requirements to go up to 3000). That is around 200 grams of fat loss. So simple!

I have taken up the challenge, going fine so far.
Had cucumber, paneer and carrot salad, a few almonds, a glass of milk and a cup of tea so far. Plan to have chick pea salad, lots of vegetables and a glass of milk in the evening. Milk is double toned so virtually fat free.

Prerna:
You need to eat more, please!! Have something of substance before your body breaks up into pieces! :-)
Have some paneer, eat fats, and add some variety of veggies like tomatoes, peppers and mushrooms.
Nita:
You are right, it is not mandatory, but for fat loss, this is spot on.
Anshul:
I was kidding. It’s fine.

This sounds a lot like the cabbage soup diet, which is also good!
I like this more though cuz u say diary products are allowed and I almost died without milk.
Started it today, lets see what happens in a week :)

1, 2, and 5 are gonna kill me! I’ll have to go Tues to Tues, since I read this later in the day and already had 4 Diet Pepsi’s (#1). My last big holdout is the DP’s. Gonna try this though because I know I don’t drink enough water because of all the DP’s which are mostly a bad workday habit.

Alright, I’m in for the next 7 days beginning Tuesday 3/31. I’ve been tring to eat primal and follow advice of SOGrok and Mark Sisson for the past month but seem to fall off and cheat a bit every 4-5 days. This is the challenge I need to get through one week straight. Hard part for me is sugar in tea and soda, easy part will be excercise. Thanks for the idea, I’m looking forward to it.

Kusublakki and Cottonwood,
Welcome to this blog. I hope you stay motivated right till the last minute of the Challenge! Once you get used to life without sugar, you won’t be needing a sugar fix every now and then.

I did not get #3, why no grains? Then this is nothing but a low-carb diet like Atkins. Its not recommended by Doctors to follow a low-carb diet, I know because I was following the Atkins diet for quite some time. The other points are good.

I have a question. A large part of being fit and losing weight is good food habits. Reading the list, no grains for a week makes me feel like there might be a binge of carbs coming after the 7 days are over and the fat loss achieved during the week might actually be compensated. For people with ample self control it might work, but for someone who does not, it might backfire..no??

Priyanka:
No, this is not Atkins. This is primal eating, the way the caveman must have eaten his food, though you might say he did not drink milk. True. A way of lowering caloric intake is to cut on carbs. It is far better and beneficial to do that than cutting fats and proteins. Actually, carbs are NOT essential for life. You may be shocked to hear this, but it’s true.
Shilpadesh:
A binge is always in your hands. If you want to lose the benefits you have accumulated before, no one can stop you (I mean anyone). That said, the main thing in this is not be restrictive, but to be inclusive. You can eat most of the good things in life, inc. meats, eggs, nuts, fats, ghee, butter, milk, and cheese…. You just need to give up sugars and processed foods (most of which are grain based). Building self control is also a learning process, and this blog will try to help people stay on track. Stay tuned!

Grains are not some poison, I agree, but many/most fat people will do better without them. Carbs can cause inflammatory responses in the body (arthritis, etc.) and will increase insulin levels. You should know that high insulin levels mean no fat loss, and the net result a metabolic syndrome (look it up).

ur regime seems to be more like an attempt to build an ironman out of a person if he pushes a bit harder . i fully agree with priyank when he calls it brutal, but if one impliments even nost basic parts of ur regime i think it sure will help
i follow 50% of ur advise already but sometimes its impossible to avoid 2 . 3 .5

also a question
is it better to do a fast jog rather than a long walk or vice versa?

Ammu,
Hi. Sure thing. Without sugar or sweeteners, preferably. Are you asking for the fast days? Within the fast, definitely without sugar, and preferably (but not mandatorily) without milk. Your choice. Best of luck!
Sahaja:
Please go ahead and start. Best of luck.
Prax:
An ironman in seven days! Come on! This is merely the first step towards a rational lifestyle.
Sands:
Lentils are good! Go ahead! If you follow all the points, you will see the benefits all right!

Prax:
Both jogging and walking are useless as fat loss workouts/activities. Sprinting for short intervals with minimum rest periods (where a work-rest ratio of 1:1 or 1:2 is utilised) is what will do the trick.
Amit:
If you eat all you are doing, there is no way you can escape obesity (especially as you age), unless you are one of God’s chosen ones who never become fat.
Hannah:
Best of luck, and do let us know.

Hi, Today is my (and my Mom’s) 6th day of the 7 day challenge. The experience has been good so far because i am eating (I am a vegeterian but eat eggs, also ate pulses a couple of times) a lot healthier (Thanks for that!) but the weighing scale is not really relenting even half a kg. This is really sad. I worked out for 3.5 hrs spread over 3 days. I havent done the 18hr fasting but have not cheated even once. Would you any observation/solution to why it isnt working?

Prerna:
Want to continue with the same or should I give you a new challenge? :-)
Sheen:
It doesn’t matter. The weighing scale will take its own time. You need to give yourself more time if you want to get lean/er. Think in one-three year spans (depending). Weight is only a crude way of estimating body fat. It could be the same because of body fluids, fed state, etc…

OK. I tried and failed first two days. I started afresh again and held up for seven days.
Was mad as hell, and lost a kilo only as per the scale on the last two days.

But after that it’s been downhill. My thyroid medicine that I am on since the past 15 days have exacerabated my hunger and I have pangs-yeah the ‘chuhe dhodrahe hain mera pet me’ kind and I am back to my three rotis a day.

You say carbs can lead to swelling of joints.

Do I start again? And how do I check this hunger pang every three hours because this if the first time I’ve been diagnosed with thyroid and have been put on medication. Can I have sprouts with my salad? And with my hurting knees I can only manage two hours of mild walking, it hurts if I walk at my old pace. Or should I do the mild one hour walking and perhaps 1 hour of gymming avoiding the treadmill as it will hurt my knees?

Also: Will I die before I reduce?
Is dieting such a bitch?
Can the whole world turn fat like me, please?
*Howling and sobbing ensues*

Maami:
You need to feel full and satiated in any diet. If a diet is making you feel ravenous and hungry it is not working for you. Often this is your own limitation: you don’t know enough about what foods you should eat (you know you should not eat sweets, fried stuff, cakes, etc.). So, do find out what healthy food options are available for you. Examples include casein, eggs, milk, olive oil, nuts, broccoli, peppers, tomatoes, oatmeal, etc, etc. You can eat your sprouts all right. Your knees hurt because your lower back and hips are weak. You need to strengthen them with good exercise. Try joining a good gym where a trainer can attend to these weaknesses. The treadmill is avoidable.